I just don’t care that much about MySpace anymore and I’m not entirely sure why. I’ll admit I’m obsessed with LinkedIn - and for some reason it seems like everyone is on Facebook these days. So maybe MySpace is just losing the battle for my attention. The whole MySpace interface feels so silly in comparison. A lot of the profiles are splattered with retarded colors, tons of auto-run videos and songs, and dumb animated gifs, while Facebook plainly focuses on individuals and not artistic expression.

I guess I can attribute all that to old age. I don’t care enough to play around creatively, and I definitely don’t have the time to leave comments on everyone’s pages. The other sites just feel easier. My 32-year-old brain doesn’t have the capacity and youthful energy to keep up with the MySpace pace.

And here’s the other thing. I used MySpace a lot two or three years ago. During that stretch, I was in a certain social circle - before my divorce. I have lost touch with a lot of those friends (many of whom are still in my friends list). Playing around on MySpace is sort of like showing up at a party where there are a ton of people I haven’t spoken to in a year. Still - I don’t want to remove those friends from my list. As far as I know, we are still “friends” - at least in the sense that they are somewhat interested in what I’m up to these days (and vice versa). If I did happen to run into them at this imaginary party, they might even want to chat for a few minutes.

On that same note, the people in that group certainly know about this website. I have no idea if they are some of the 1000 plus daily visitors, but it’s possible. Facebook on the other hand is somewhat new to me. I’ve had a profile for years, but I had left it nearly friendless and neglected. Now that I’m more active on that site, the friends list is more accurate as far as my current acquaintances, and it is devoid of those from my former life.

And then there’s another strange phenomenon. Out of nowhere, people from my past have begun to find me on Facebook (not so much on MySpace). These are people from college, or high school, or even earlier. These people didn’t know me as a guy who was married before. For all they know, my current wife is my first¹. So when those people say, “Hey, haven’t heard from you in forever! How’s everything going?” - I can respond, “Things are great! Living in Philly. Just got married. Work is going well. How have you been?” It’s as if these old old friends have joined my very new friends in a weird mesh of a social circle that sort of skips a period of time.

That being said, my Facebook list is terribly short in comparison to my MySpace list. Though I’m not complaining. The connections I’ve made there recently are awesome. It’s great to see some familiar faces from so long ago.

Alternatively, my list of LinkedIn connections is huge. That list is almost entirely comprised of professional connections. They aren’t necessarily the type of people I’d let into my personal life. And for that matter, I don’t think my Facebook friends would give two shits about my online resume.

So it all comes down to this: Should I give up on MySpace? I can see the value in retaining Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. But at what point do I cut the MySpace ties? Or maybe I’ll compromise. I could make sure my profile is updated, strip my page of any content that needs to be changed regularly, and quit feeling obligated to comment on other people’s pages. I’ll let you know how this all ends up working out.

1. I realize I’ve buried the lead (as they say in the news business). I did in fact get married last week. I’ll have more details later, but this post is about the possible death of MySpace. I didn’t want to lose focus.

Okay slackers - If you have any level of motivation in life, any desire to move up the corporate ladder, it would behoove you to start building your brand. In this case, your name is your brand. And you want to give your name value.

If this concept is new to you, it might seem like a load of bullshit. But I’m telling you, a company is far more interested in hiring a known quantity than risking salary space on a nobody. And not only that - it’s just cool to see your name in Google search results.

This info will come in handy if you’re the type of person who has handed in a resume with your email address listed as hotwhore69@hotmail.com. Or maybe your potential employer Googled your name and the only search result was a page listing “The drunkest douchebags on campus, class of 2002″. You can fix all that in a few simple steps.

1. Get a real email address
   You’ll need to put it on your resume. And of course, you’ll use it to keep in contact with your potential employers - to send your resume and cover letter, and to send a thank you note after the interview. hardcorepothead@gmail.com won’t suffice. Try firstname.lastname@gmail.com. And if that doesn’t work, try lastnamefirstnamemiddleinitial@gmail.com (that’s the one I use), or any combination of those elements.
2. Register a URL
   I use GoDaddy. Try to get firstnamelastname.com. And if that’s taken, try firstname-lastname.com (That’s the one I registered). Try to steer clear of .org and .net URLs if at all possible. Owning a .com shows you put some effort into it. You could buy a hosting package and create a website with your resume and some links to relevant websites, etc. Or just do what I did - redirect your URL to your online professional profile at LinkedIn.
3. Join a professional networking site
   Speaking of LinkedIn… you can use a professional networking site to build your online resume. LinkedIn is leading the pack on this one, with features similar to MySpace or Facebook, but geared towards the workforce. Make sure to add everyone you can think of so your profile gets as much visibility as possible. I’ve joined all the sites listed below, and my firstname-lastname.com URL redirects to my public LinkedIn profile.
   LinkedIn
   Plaxo
   ZoomInfo
   spoke
   XING
4. Write a decent resume
   Update your resume, adding your professional email address and URL. Add that newly spiced-up resume to every professional networking site you can find. Make sure to link back to your URL from all of your online profiles so you increase your Google page rank (where you show up in web searches). It’s not terribly difficult to get Google to notice you, but it does take time. Be patient.
5. Keep your personal profile private
   If you have a MySpace or Facebook profile, make sure to mark it “private”. You have to assume that anytime you apply for a job, at least one of the interviewers is going to run a search for you on personal networking sites. It’s just natural curiosity. It’s best to build up your professional online presence and keep your personal life private. You don’t want the hiring manager to see an old picture of you guzzling a Bud Light through a beer bong while dressed in a Mighty Mouse costume.

That’s about it. Good luck - and let me know if you have any other tips.

A few years ago… maybe in 2004 or so… my niece Jill told me that she communicated with her friends primarily through instant messaging. She would sit at her computer for hours just typing away to other teenagers out there in internetland somewhere. I thought it seemed weird. Why wouldn’t they just talk on the phone like normal people?

Then a couple months later, my pal Ev told me about his blog. He and his friends were posting personal stories and whatnot on some random website every day for complete strangers to read. Super odd. Why would anyone want to share their personal shit with the world? And who cared enough to read about it?

And around that same time in my life, I had one email account that I checked maybe once a week. If someone needed to reach me, it would be more efficient to drive to my house and knock on my door than to email me. They’d get a faster response anyway.

I really don’t know what changed, but it happened very quickly. I joined Ev’s blog, then another, then started my own. I set up separate email accounts for my various websites. I tested the waters with a few different instant messaging systems. Blah blah blah.

Now I’m fucking addicted. I have a cell phone that buzzes every time I receive an email to any one of my 5 email accounts. I have profiles on who knows how many social networking sites (MySpace is the only one I pay any attention to). I communicate via IM every chance I get. I far prefer it over the phone. In fact, my entire relationship with my fiancee Lulu was forged via IM. And even when I do use my phone, I almost always send a text message instead of calling.

I have a few friends that are like me in this sense. Web addicted. And there are others who still check their email maybe once a week or don’t necessarily respond to emails when they read them. Somehow I’ve lost that ability. If I get an email, I usually respond within minutes.

I really had no idea where I was going with all of this rambling… but I just thought of a good way to wrap this all up: If you are my friend and I don’t call you as often as I probably should, maybe try sending me an email or a text. Or look for me on Google chat. Or hit me up on MySpace. Or leave a comment on my blog. I’ll respond.